Interspecific Hybridization between Cletus punctiger DALLAS and C. rusticus STAL (Heteroptera : Coreidae)
1984 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 142-150
Details
1984 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 142-150
Hybrid F1 progenies were produced from matings between Cletus punctiger and C. rusticus in the laboratory. Seventy-eight and three-tenths percent of C. punctiger females which mated with C. rusticus males produced fertile eggs, while 45.0% of C. rusticus females mated with C. punctiger males produced fertile eggs. Several characters of the hybrid F1 were compared with those of the parent. Considering these characters overall, F1 hybrids seemed to be intermediate between the parent species. These hybrids were able to copulate and to produce eggs, but they were thought to have no fertility from several selfed and back-crossed tests.Of 253 mating pairs observed in a field cage in whcih 50 males and 50 females of the two species were released, 11.5% were interspecific and most of the intraspecific matings were observed on the preferred host plant of each species. It was suggested that bugs of the two species do not mate at random but that they have some mechanism(s) to recognize conspecific mates.
